Mixed Martial Arts Makes Its Mark: Year In Review 2007

Mixed Martial Arts Makes Its MarkFrancis Specker/LandovOriginally decried in the 1990s as a brutal blood sport without rules (Arizona Sen. John McCain famously called cage combat “human cockfighting” and sought to have it banned), by 2007 mixed martial arts (MMA)—a hybrid combat sport incorporating boxing, wrestling, jujitsu and other disciplines—had gradually shed its no-holds-barred image and begun to challenge boxing for popularity. Although MMA remained too intense for many sports fans, it was sanctioned in several countries and more than 30 U.S. states, where the sport was regulated by the same bodies that governed boxing, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. The Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was MMA’s most successful promoter. In February 2007 the Associated Press, citing an unidentified industry executive, reported that the UFC’s 10 pay-per-view events in 2006 generated more than $200 million in customer retail revenue.

In 2007 the UFC cited 31 rules in five body-weight classes: lightweight (145–155 lb), welterweight (155–170 lb), middleweight (170–185 lb), light heavyweight (185–205 lb), and heavyweight (205–265 lb). UFC fights consisted of three five-minute rounds, with a one-minute break between each round. (Championship bouts were set for five rounds.) If a fight went the distance, the winner was decided by a panel of three judges, using boxing’s 10-point must system (the winner of the round gets 10 points, the loser is awarded nine or fewer). MMA referees and judges were assigned by state athletic commissions, which conducted medical and drug tests on fighters. Weight classes, rules, and judging format varied by region or organization; for instance, the Pride Fighting Championships (known as Pride) in Japan, where fans had long embraced the sport, and the International Fight League (IFL) in the U.S. staged fights in a ring rather than a cage. The UFC was pushing for “unified rules” to standardize the sport globally.

MMA was believed to date back to the ancient Olympic Games in 648 bc, when pankration—the martial training of Greek armies—was considered the combat sport of ancient Greece. More recently it resurfaced in Brazil via a combat sport known as vale tudo (“anything goes”).

The sport came to the forefront in North America in 1993 when the Gracie family from Brazil decided to showcase its trademark Brazilian jujitsu against all comers. Royce (pronounced Hoyce) Gracie represented the family as its champion in a tournament, held in a caged ring, that came to be called UFC 1. The earliest aim was to pit fighters of different styles against each other: wrestler against boxer, kickboxer against judoka, etc. Initially, the only rules decreed no biting and no eye gouging. Bouts ended when one of the fighters submitted (tapping with his hand to signal that he had had enough) or one corner threw in the towel. The 1.85-m (6-ft 1-in), 82-kg (180-lb) Gracie defeated all comers at UFC 1, held in Denver’s McNichols Arena on Nov. 12, 1993. Gracie was particularly deft at using his jujitsu skills while lying on his back to defend against attacks or to launch a submission hold aimed at his opponent’s joints. Most other early UFC fighters were one-dimensional, typified by the bearded brawler Tank Abbott, but as the sport grew, athletes began to study striking, wrestling, and jujitsu—many drawn by the success of Gracie against bigger opponents.

The seeds of change in the sport were sown in January 2001 when Zuffa Inc. purchased the money-losing UFC for $2 million. UFC Pres. Dana White became the face of the sport, while fellow co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta remained in the background. The UFC continued to lose money—with some estimates of the red ink at $40 million—before it began to find a profitable niche. A trilogy of fights between Chuck (“the Iceman”) Liddell and Randy (“the Natural”) Couture at UFC 43, 52, and 57 helped elevate MMA and the UFC. Liddell won two of those bouts and quickly became a menacing poster boy for the sport, with his shaved mohawk and tattooed head. Couture retired in February 2006 after his final loss to Liddell and was named to the sport’s Hall of Fame. He returned in March 2007, upsetting Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title at UFC 68. Couture even used his popularity to branch into acting while also opening a chain of gyms and launching a line of clothing and nutritional supplements.

The sport received another boost by virtue of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, which kicked off its sixth season on the Spike cable network in September 2007. The show traditionally featured fighters looking to break into the UFC. Divided into teams under celebrity fighter coaches, combatants lived under the same roof and fought each other in a knockout format, with the final winner earning a UFC contract. Graduates of the show included such UFC staples as Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Josh Koscheck, and Diego Sanchez.

In November 2006 the UFC moved to capitalize on the popularity of the sport by buying other MMA organizations, including the World Fighting Alliance (WFA) and World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), and in March 2007 it purchased the Japan-based Pride for a reported fee of less than $70 million. The UFC disbanded the WFA, acquiring top WFA fighters such as Quinton (“Rampage”) Jackson, but continued to operate WEC as a distinct entity with a special emphasis on lighter weight classes. The UFC had planned to have Pride and UFC champions meet annually in a so-called Super Bowl of mixed martial arts, but the Pride purchase proved to be problematic; the UFC did take on top Pride fighters, such as Mirko (“Cro Cop”) Filipovic and Antonio Nogueira. The UFC also took its brand of MMA to Europe; at UFC 70, held in April 2007 in Manchester, Eng., fighters from 10 countries were on the card.

Despite the sport’s gains, the road to success for MMA was a bumpy one at times. Increased scrutiny turned up problems such as positive drug tests in 2007 for Royce Gracie and UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk (both fighters denied they cheated). In addition to steroids, fighters had tested positive for so-called social drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine.

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